Rogue walked into a crowded bar searching the mass of people. She was somewhere in Canada on a mission for the Professor. Finding her target on the dance floor she checked him over. She saw that his taste in women hadn’t changed. She shook her head and made her way to the bar. Rogue never understood his obsession with big boobs.
“Can I get you anything, sweetie?” the bartender asked.
“I’ll have a Crown and Coke,” Rogue told him.
“You got an I.D?”
Rogue rolled her eyes and reached into her back pocket to retrieve her driver’s license. She took a quick glance over at her target and realized he had moved to the pool table. The woman he was with was laughing terribly loud and fake. Rogue could hear her over the music.
“That’s one weird name you got, sweetie,” the bartender told her as he handed her I.D. back.
“Yeah? Well, I’m a weird girl,” Rogue told him. “Can I have my drink now?”
The bartender smiled and went to work on her drink. Rogue grabbed an empty stool and sat down facing the crowd. Her target was trying to show the bimbo how to shoot a combination. She missed.
Rogue snorted and glanced over the crowd. She grabbed her drink and took a big swallow wincing at the initial taste of the liquor. Turning back to her objective she saw the bimbo whisper something in his ear. Rogue took another big swallow of her drink. It was going to be a long night.
“No, I’m not interested,” Rogue told a guy that had been trying to get her to dance for the last fifteen minutes. He was short and he smelled funny.
“Oh come on, honey,” the guy slurred in her ear, “I’m real light on my feet.”
Rogue tugged on her gloves, it was habit when she was getting aggravated. She turned to look for her target. She had lost him in the attempt to keep the creep’s hands off her. Picking up her drink she scanned the bar for him.
“How about we skip the dance and head out of here,” the guy said as he grabbed her by the arm and begin to pull her towards the exit.
“Hey!” Rogue shouted. “Get your hands…”
“Let go of her now, bub,” a voice boomed over Rogue’s head.
Rogue looked up at the man who had decided to come to her rescue. She found herself staring into the face of her target. She noticed that the whole bar seemed to be watching them.
“What are you going to do about it?” the short creep growled back. “I saw her first.”
Rogue remained frozen as she kept her eyes on the man who was trying to be her protector. She didn’t notice that she was once again being pulled toward the door. The guy obviously wasn’t intimidated.
The next thing she knew her target was rushing toward them and drinks were flying in the air. The creep’s hand was snatched off her arm and Rogue looked down at the front of her shirt where her drink now resided. Her glass was broken at her feet. She looked up and saw that the creep was now being hauled away by the bouncers. He was out cold.
Rogue’s target had his back to her and was making a dusting gesture with his hands. Laughing he shouted, “And don’t come back now, ya hear?” Some other men came by and patted him on the shoulder. Turning back towards her, Rogue heard him ask, “You alright, Darlin’?”
Rogue quickly turned to leave. The Professor would be pissed if they had any contact. “Observation only, Rogue,” he had warned her. Trying to make her way through the on-lookers she heard him call out to her.
“Hey wait! Don’t I at least get a thank you?”
Despite her best effort not to, Rogue turned to look at him. She smiled as he weaved his way through the people. “Thanks,” she whispered. She wiped the front of her wet shirt nervously and avoided his piercing gaze.
“How about I buy you a new drink?” he offered. “Since I spilt yours.”
“No, I have to go,” Rogue told him, “Thanks for what you did.” She took one last long look at him and turned to leave.
“What about a dance then?” her rescuer shouted back.
Rogue ignored him and kept walking. She had to follow orders. The Professor knows best. That’s what she had to remind herself.
“I saved your life!”
Rogue stopped dead in her tracks. Turning slowly she looked back at him and said, “No you didn’t.”
He held up his hands and said, “Okay, so you were totally handling it. I just helped a little. The least you could do is have one dance with me.”
Rogue gave into a smile and said, “How about a drink instead?”
“Hey, that’s fine. After a few drinks, you’re bound to dance with me,” he said as he smiled at her and reached out for her hand. She watched as he raised his eyebrow at her gloves.
“I’m cold natured,” Rogue lied.
“Fair enough,” he told her as he led her to the back booth.
As they sat down, Rogue said, “I can’t stay long.” She avoided eye contact. Maybe if she appeared rude he would take the hint. Rogue didn’t want to give herself away and jeopardize what the X-Men were working towards.
“How about we start by introducing ourselves?” he said. “The locals around here call me Wolverine.”
Rogue cut her eyes toward him and stared without responding. She really looked at him taking in every detail of his face. The fuzzy muttonchops that went along with his wild hair. His dark eyes that seemed to pierce through her entire soul. They made her want to tell him everything she had ever done in her life. It was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in awhile.
Shaking herself from her thoughts Rogue looked away and said, “My name’s Rogue.”
Logan looked at her skeptically for a few seconds before asking, “What kind of name is Rogue?”
“What kind of name is Wolverine?” Rogue asked before she could stop herself.
The man before her narrowed his eyes almost as if he was confused. “My name is…is…” he stuttered, “My name is Logan. I’m sorry, have we met before?”
Rogue scooted herself out of the booth as fast as she could. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Logan said responding just as fast as she was trying to leave. “I just got a bad case of déjà vu.”
Rogue stopped as he stepped in front of her to block her way. “Just sit back down, I wasn’t trying to scare ya off,” Logan said with a pleading look. “I promise I’m not as scary as I look.”
Logan took out a cigar and held it up asking, “Do you mind if I smoke?”
“No,” Rogue answered. “I like the smell of them.”
Logan smiled at her answer. “So, Rogue, you from around here?”
She shook her head and said, “I’m from New York.”
“I was there once,” Logan told her. “It didn’t leave me with any good memories.”
“I’m sorry,” Rogue apologized.
“Not your fault. You weren’t there,” Logan told her. “What are doing here?”
“Business.”
“I’m just passing through also,” Logan told her.
They both stared at each other in an awkward silence. The music in the background becoming loud as the live band started up. Logan stood and walked over to Rogue’s side of the booth. He sat back down next her and put his arm on the back of the booth. Smiling he said, “I hope you don’t mind. With the band and all it’s kinda hard for me to hear you.”
Rogue smiled and whispered, “Liar.”
Logan smiled back at her. His eyes wandered over her hair and down her body. He noticed that she was starting to fidget under his gaze. “What made you do that to your hair?”
Rogue shook her shoulders and looked away from him. “It was kind of an accident.” She held up her hands and showed him her gloves. “I’m a mutant, and something happened with my mutation that caused the streaks to show up.”
“You’re a mutant?” Logan questioned.
Rogue shook her head and said,” Yeah.”
“So am I,” Logan told her.
He didn’t elaborate on his confession; instead he just raised his hand and ran his finger over one of the white streaks in her hair. “It’s nice.”
“It took some time for me to get used to, but now…” Rogue paused and stared into his dark eyes, “I kind of like it.”
She watched as he narrowed his eyes at her once more and drifted off to another place. “Logan?”
He shook his head and said, “Sorry. I just keep getting this déjà vu feeling around you. I swear I’ve seen you before.”
Rogue’s expression turned grim for a moment and she felt her body begin to shake. She cleared her throat and recomposed herself. “Is that your mutation? Reliving the past?”
Logan snorted and said, “Yeah, if only I could.” Then he shook his head and said, “No, mine his healing. I can heal from just about anything, not everything, but most.”
Rogue watched him as he turned and rested his arms on the table. His expression changed from flirtatious to sad in a second. She wondered what she could say to take his mind off of his present thought.
“Mine is my skin,” she told him. She watched as he turned his head and gave her a curious look. “It hurts the people that come in contact with it. That’s why I’m wearing gloves inside a bar.”
“Can you control it?” Logan asked.
“I used to be able to, but then something happened about a year and half ago,” she paused and waited before she continued. She knew she had already crossed a line, but she needed to think about what she said next. More for her sake, than his. “Something happened that made me lose control and I haven’t been able to master it again. I can hold out for a few seconds, but that’s all.”
Logan turned back toward her and rested his arm on the back of the booth again. “What caused you to lose control?”
To Rogue, he seemed to be generally interested in the subject and she knew that she needed to put an end to it. She looked at her watch and said, “It’s getting late, and I need to go. My business partner will be waiting on me.”
“Are you going to be here tomorrow?” Logan asked.
Rogue shook her head ‘no’ and made a move like she wanted out of the booth. She stared back at Logan when he didn’t budge to let her by. “We leave tonight.”
“Don’t you have time for one dance?” Logan asked. He stood up to let her out of the booth.
Rogue gave him a small smile and checked her watch again. If she didn’t leave soon, she knew the X-Men that were with her would come looking for her. She looked back up at Logan and nodded her head in agreement. One dance wouldn’t hurt, besides she’d been craving his touch for so long.
Rogue followed Logan out onto the dance floor with her head down. When he tried to pull her close to him, Rogue stiffened her arms to keep him from getting too close. She cleared her throat and said, “Be careful of my skin, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I told you I heal, Darlin’,” Logan said as he gave her a smirk. “I’m sure whatever it is your skin can do, I’ll heal from it.”
Rogue gave him a scared look and said, “Just be careful.”
He just nodded and began to shuffle his feet across the floor in a slow dance. Rogue followed his lead and rested her head on his shoulder. She kept her face tuned away from his, so that she wouldn’t be able to hurt him. She closed her eyes and listened to the words of the song being played. Her heart began to break when she realized the song they were dancing to was one she used to dance to a long time ago.
If you had not have fallen
Then I would not have found you
Angel flying too close to the ground
And I patched up your broken wing
And hung around awhile
Tried to keep your spirits up
And your fever down
Rogue started to cry silent tears as she thought about the past. She felt Logan’s head rest on top of hers and he pulled her closer to him. She wondered what he could possibly be thinking at the moment. He had to be able to sense her crying.
I knew someday that you would fly away
For love’s the greatest healer to be found
So leave me if you need to
I will still remember
Angel flying to close to the ground
“Kid, are you alright?” Logan asked.
Rogue just shook her head ‘yes.’ She was afraid if she spoke, she would start to crack. She was glad he didn’t pressure her into saying anything. Instead he just twirled her slowly, keeping her close to him.
Fly on, fly on past the speed of sound
I’d rather see you up
Than see you down
Leave me if you need to
I will still remember
Angel flying to close to the ground
Rogue broke away from him when the last chorus ended. Staring at him one last time with tears in her eyes she said, “Thank you.” Then she fled. She was out of the bar and halfway to the woods before Logan could even realize she was gone.
“Shadowcat, do you copy?” Rogue called out into the communication device implanted into her watch. She looked over at the bar across the road to see if Logan had followed her.
“Rogue? Are you okay?” Kitty asked back.
Rogue cleared her throat and tried her best not to sound as if she was crying. Using her best professional voice as possible she replied, “Yes. I’m fine. I’ll be at the extraction point in a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
With one last look back at the bar, she saw that Logan had reached the parking lot and was searching for her. Seeing that she had been spotted, Rogue took off running into the woods. She knew on the track at the mansion she could beat Logan any day in running, but tonight her legs felt like jelly and she prayed she would make it.
“Wait!” Logan called after her.
Keeping her head straight Rogue began to sob harder as she heard him follow her and call out her name. Seeing the jet in her line of vision Rogue picked up her pace. She could still hear him running after her but it was faint.
Jubilee was the first person Rogue saw when she boarded the jet. Without saying a word, her best friend put her arm around her shoulders and sat down with her in the back seats. “Chica,” Jubilee whispered, “you need to let it all out before you have to talk to Chuck about it. You know he’s gonna want a report.”
Rogue leaned her head Jubilee’s shoulder and begin to wail. “Oh God, Jubes! It was so hard. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“I know,” Jubilee told her.
“I don’t understand why we have to do this?” Rogue questioned. “I mean, what is the point?”
Jubilee shrugged her shoulders and said, “The Professor says we need to give him some time and he knows what’s best.”
Rogue sat up and ran hands over her face. She sniffed and tried to regain her composure. “You’re right. I just don’t think I can handle seeing him anymore. This is the first time he’s ever spoken to me or anyone since that time when Scott was on duty. I was fine with just watching him, but this time…” Rogue stopped and shook her head trying not to cry again, “this time we actually talked. And there were moments when he would look at me and it was almost like he was going to remember us.”
“He will, Rogue,” Jubilee said reassuringly, as she patted her back. “Soon.”
“The professor thinks it would be best if he rediscovers everything at a slow pace,” Rogue grumbled. “I’m about tired of what the professor thinks is best.” Standing up she walked to the front of the jet and sat down in her seat leaving Jubilee by herself.
She never spoke to the others and they knew better than try to ask questions. Rogue continued to cry silent tears as she stared out the window of the jet. She pulled the chain necklace around her neck out from under her shirt and began to twist the gold band between her fingers. It matched the one she wore under her gloves only much larger in size.
Rogue gave the ring a kiss and tucked it back away wondering when she would be able to give it back to its rightful owner.
Unknown to the occupants of the X-men jet, below them a feral, dark-eyed mutant was staring up at them with hatred in his eyes. Extending three metal claws from his right hand, Logan raised his fist in the air and shouted angrily “Xavier!”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks Karen and Jenn for the beta. The song is by Willie Nelson.I wanted to keep this a one-shot, but my muses wouldn’t let me. The follow up fic will be posted shortly